Loving Yourself as a Person But Not a Student? Here’s How to Love Both.
Written by: Ankita Mishra, 2nd Year Medical Sciences
Photo by: Student Experience
Do you ever feel happy with who you are in all aspects of life, except in your academics? I often feel the same way so I am going to tell you how to maintain academic motivation so that your school life can’t drag you down any longer. Considering that midterms last the entire term, (why call it mid, just call it term at this point), we all feel burnout eventually. No matter how much we enjoy the content we are learning, it happens to the best of us. This is why it’s important to learn techniques on how to pace yourself so you don’t feel burnt out midway through the semester.
Do you ever feel happy with who you are in all aspects of life, except in your academics? I often feel the same way so I am going to tell you how to maintain academic motivation so that your school life can’t drag you down any longer. Considering that midterms last the entire term, (why call it mid, just call it term at this point), we all feel burnout eventually. No matter how much we enjoy the content we are learning, it happens to the best of us. This is why it’s important to learn techniques on how to pace yourself so you don’t feel burnt out midway through the semester.
My high school French teacher showed us a technique of how to layout our to-do list in an organized way. This is called the Eisenhower Decision Matrix and it will help you balance your academics with the other busy aspects of your life. You will have a nice visual representation of how much you must get done and in what time span. Split your tasks up according to their urgency and importance. Here is an example:
|
Urgent |
Not Urgent |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Important |
Quadrant 1 - Writing an essay due in 3 days - Studying for a midterm in 5 days |
Quadrant 2 - Relationships - Health - Studying for a midterm in 3 weeks - Catching up on two weeks of chemistry classwork |
|
Not Important |
Quadrant 3 - Book a bus ticket home |
Quadrant 4 - Going out to dinner with friends |
Things written in quadrant 1 should be done immediately and quadrant 3 following soon after. You should plan ahead on ways to keep working on quadrant 2 events so that they do not eventually end up unfinished in quadrant 1. As for quadrant 4, put those events on hold until you have time.
Enhance your study space. Make sure you have a spot designated for studying, away from distractions. Try to make it comfortable and organized so that you are actually motivated to be productive. When I say comfortable, I don’t mean to study in your bed because let’s be honest, it usually results in you falling asleep (I’m totally not speaking from personal experience). Instead, have an uncluttered desk with a bright lamp and a file cabinet to organize yourself and add little decorations to make the space more inviting. But you might start feeling bored from sitting in the same spot for too long. Try to change study locations often. Maybe move to your dining table or take a trip to campus for a change of scenery.
Competition can help academically motivate you, but only competition with yourself, not others. Do not attempt to compare yourself to your peers because each one of us is different. Do not get frustrated if your friend always seems to understand lecture content faster than you. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Just keep trying until you find the method of understanding the same topic that works best for you. If you get a grade you’re unhappy with, instead of being sad about it, reflect on how you can do better next time. Don’t get me wrong, expressing your emotions is a healthy way to cope. You’re allowed to be sad but don’t dwell in the past for too long. Don’t let one bad grade hold you back for the rest of the semester. Instead, find ways to put a positive foot forward and reshape yourself for your journey ahead.
Now let’s say you have a midterm approaching and you’re really behind on content. At this point, you need to set priorities because let’s be honest, you can’t study everything to its fullest potential. Instead of doing every single assigned textbook question, do every other question or if there are many similar types of questions, move on once you get the gist of how to do them.
Just remember, you need to give yourself a break. No one is expected to be studying 24/7...We all deserve breaks. Give yourself some leisure time each day to do something you enjoy. Maybe schedule an outing with your friends after you finish a midterm to reward yourself or, you can set goals to complete a certain task and once you finish it, reward yourself with one episode of your favourite Netflix show.
Most importantly, make sure you keep a positive attitude. Always tell yourself you CAN do something instead of thinking of the worst possible scenario. Now, stop procrastinating by reading my blog post and get back to studying!
Check out more blogs about academic wellness...
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